Miriam Fried was one of the young artists nurtured by Isaac Stern. Having heard her play the violin at the Tel Aviv Academy he sent her for further study, first at the Geneva Conservatory and then with Gingold in America. She is very much aware of her good fortune in being a student in Israel in the 1950s: ‘[…] every famous violinist came to Israel to play […] I actually got to meet these illustrious violinists […] It was inspiring.’ She finished her studies at The Juilliard School under Galamian’s rigorous scheme of technical diagnosis and remedy and had prominent success at the Paganini and Queen Elisabeth Competitions before launching her solo career.

Fried’s solo recordings are relatively scarce, but reflect a notable confidence and clarity. They include two recordings of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto: her Queen Elisabeth Competition performance of 1971, and a studio recording of some sixteen years later. The stylistic similarities are quite striking given the distance in time between them, although the earlier performance has rather more in the way of tempo flexibility and a more soft-edged approach to sound, albeit (perhaps inevitably) a little less technically accurate than the later studio performance. Fried’s playing here is very strong—almost too strong in fact—since distortions and a certain scratchiness pervade her most impassioned utterances including the G-string theme of the second movement which is pushed a little too hard on both occasions. Balancing this is the extraordinary commitment to the work that such an approach can, at its best, bring forth.

It can be difficult to comment on modern players when current global performance style (in comparison with past ages, at least) inclines towards uniformity. Today’s players tend to stress either the softer elements of a composition (maximising sensuousness of sound), or else the architecture of the music (often with a harder-edged sound and more structural attitude to rhythm). The latter, perhaps modernist, tendencies are present in Fried’s solo playing, which is curious given that her quartet (the Mendelssohn String Quartet) falls within the softer, more post-Romantic, approach. The quartet does not lack rigour, however; Piston’s Quartet No. 1 (2003) and Dillon’s Jests and Tenderness (2000) are performed with admirable poise and accuracy, with a warmth and depth to the ensemble sound. Many will doubtless enjoy Fried’s dependable technique and her committed music-making.

© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — David Milsom (A–Z of String Players, Naxos 8.558081-84)